Pages

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Let's try this again...

In my last post (7 months ago...gasp!) I talked about moving away from commercial deodorant to a homemade version. Simple and straightforward with edible ingredients (well, except the oils...I'm no expert on essential oils and don't know which ones are ok to consume, so let's not go taking a swig from any bottles, m'k?). It was good, but I had some stinky days, and the biggest drawback was that I had to keep it in the fridge. At all times. If I didn't it would melt. It would also melt really quickly when it came into contact with my fingers so I usually ended up with a lot of oil on my hands. I also got quite a lot of powder build up in my pits. It got me thinking, though; maybe I could add some beeswax to the formula to make it solid at room temperature. There were lots of recipes online that utilized beeswax so I tried a couple out. Some had too much, some had not enough. Some had other ingredients that I didn't have (and was feeling too cheap to go out and buy). I also found that my pits were starting to get little angry red bumps from the baking soda. Apparently this is a pretty common problem for those with sensitive skin. That got me searching further. Finally after trying a few different formulations and using different powders as a substitute for the baking soda, I came up with my own concoction and I'm quite happy with it! I usually don't have any stink and when I do, it seems to have more to do with the fabrics I'm wearing (polyester, anyone? bletch! I now really understand why Stacy and Clinton on WNTW were such proponents of natural fibers!). So, without further ado, here is my recipe and step-by-step guide to DIY No-Stink!

I bought my beeswax in a big block from a local farmers' market. Since a big block of beeswax is kind of hard to cut/melt/deal with, I used an old cheese grater to shred little bits at a time. It's still a bit of a pain, but it's significantly cheaper than buying wax pellets. Pellets a good option though if you don't have access to a bee-keeper, or if the smell of unprocessed beeswax is a bit overpowering for you. I labeled my deodorant-making-jar and use a separate wooden spoon specifically for my deodorant, simply because I also make lotion bars and don't want the powders from the deodorant mixing in with the lotion bars and, let's face it, there's always residue in the jar when I'm done.

So, getting on with the step-by-steps:
Start by melting the wax as this will take the longest. Boil about 2" of water in a small pot and put your wax in the glass jar into the water. Stir until the wax melts. The smaller your pellets or wax shavings are, the faster it will melt.

Once the wax has melted, pop the cocoa butter and coconut oil in. These will melt fairly quickly. Keep stirring to melt them faster.

When all of the solid lumps are gone, remove your jar from the heat and take it to your work area. This is what your melt will look like:

Add in the vitamin E oil, then dump in your arrowroot flour and cornstarch. Stir until smooth.

Finally add in your essential oils, give a quick stir and pour your liquid deodorant into silicon moulds. I ordered some silicon muffin tins online that I like for deodorant. Let it cool and voila! You're done! Swipe it on in the morning and you're good to go!

Good luck!! I'd love to hear what you think about this formula, or if there are others you've liked better!